Traction-engine.



1.: TIMBERLAKE. TRACTION ENGINE.

AZ'PLIOATIDE PELED JULY 8, 1909 Patented Feb. 18,1913

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 lhvah tor Daniel T Tmmberlake Witnesses W Z/Ahb't REM 1KB.

I." TIM THACHUN EJMJRNE API'L uunzox rum firm Patented Feb. 13,1913

-) SHEETS-SHBLT 3 I M inventor: Qamek LTlmbarkak L) Y uwwdww.

'proved traction engine.

.UNHE. s'ra'rns ra ranr curios. I

'DANIEL '1. TIM ZBERLAKE OF BAILEYVILLE, KANSAS.

TRACTION-ENGINE;-'

, Specification of Letters Patent.

messes To all whom it may) concern: I

Be it known that I, DANIEL T. Transna- LAK e, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baileyville, Kansas, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Traction-Engines, of which the following is a full, cleanand exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, in which f v Figure l is a top plan view-of my im Fig. 2 is adiararnmatic view illustrating the front truck in the position which it assumes in taking a curve. Fig; 3 is a sectional View on line 3 -43, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detailed view of oneof the difi'erential gear, masterwheels. Fig. 5 is a sectionalv view on line 5-5, Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a sectional view on'linc 6-6, Fig. 1.

This invention relates to a new'and useful improvement in traction engines and is designed particularlyas an improvement on the'traction engine shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 905,481, granted to meDecemberl, 1908, and No. 927,085 granted to me July6, 1909.

The traction enginesof my former palcnts are driyen by diflerential gears from a central source of power, so that each one of the traction Wheels was separately driven. The front truck was swiveled so as to rock about a horizontally disposed pivot, and

steering apparatus was applied for swingp.

ing the front truck on its king pins in taking curves. 7

The objects of my present invention are:

1st: To provide means whcrebv one or more of the traction wheels may he mm; ncctcd to the source of power whereby the connected wheel or wheels is positively driven from said source of power. The purpose of this is to overcome the possible objection which might arise in some new; of my improved traction engine where the ditt'crential gear would permit a differential movement of the several traction wheels. 'loillustrate, it one of the traction wheels should-be located on ice, mud or a slip ery portion of the road, such traction w eel,

and rear trucks.

meeting with less resistance than its companion, would absorb all the driving motion and spin. This spinning would last as long as the wheels met with differential resistance, and for such reason I prefer llatcnted Feb. 1 a, iota. Application filed July 6, 1909. SerialNo. 566,032.

to provide my traction wheels with retrac tive teeth or spurs, which may be projected to bite into the road and avoid spinning when the character of the road warrants tion, in the event that two wheels of a pair are on portions of the road having different characteristics, as, for instance, if one --wheel' rested upon ice and the other upon earth, it is ossibleby my present nnproveinent to 100 the two wheels together so as to avoid spinning of the wheel havingthe least resistance, to-wit, the wheel resting on ice, and byso locking the wheels together, the power of the wheel havin tracti n ability will be'exerted to move tie vehicle forward'until the disability of the wheel haw-- ing little or no traction is removed.

2nd: To provide the front swiveling truck their use. According to my present inven with a compensating device for a sup ort- 1 mg chain or cable, whereby when'the rout truck 18 swung to take a curve, the slack on one side of the chain or cable incident. to the swinging of the truck will be taken 'up. 3rd: To lighten the structure by forming the axles with'tapered openings, whereby the axles may be rolled as a t'apered,seainless-tube, the fibers on the inside greatly increasing the strength of theaxle.

in the drawings, 1 indicates the frame of the front truck and 2 the frame of the rear 3 is a tubular reach constituting a.

.90 The forward-end of this rem-his provided with a yoke 4; in the end' of which are the king pins 5 constituting 'verlical pivotal axisfor the front truclr.

truck. horizontal pivotal axis between the front {lis the hollow axle formed with a tapered opening and preferably rolled as a seamless tube, so that its inner surface will have a strengthening skin or fiber. provided with an enlarged central body portion [5 against which sleeves 7 abut. Each wheel is providedlwith means to hold This axle is,

the axle in position, as described in my aforesaid atent. I

7 are s eev'es mounted on the axle, and

g or other slippery support, as fore referred to, such Wheel, being. free gears 9 which mesh with planetary pinions' '"lOIIlOLlIlCGd in,fand carried by aQmaSterf gear 11. This master-gear is loosely mount-- 10 ed .on the axle 6 betweenthe tw'o facing: miter-gearsfi and connectedto the wheels 12 isav pinion meshing withthe mastergear-11 for imparting motion thereto.

15; I When the pinion 1 2 is;-dr iven, it is ob. vious that the wheels 8, ,resting-upon the gro'undywill be driven at a uniform speed, as when going in a straight line. Should the; engine move in' a circular path, the

30. wheels on the outer side of the circle would have to travel the greater distance and this is accomplished I through the differential .gearing' ust described. Should one of the wheels of. .a ,pair rest upon ice heretoto rotate, will be rotatedorwill absorbing all the power, while 'ion wheel, having traction ability, will re main stationary The differential gearing ,permits the power to exhaust itself through thepath of leastresistance.

p 13 represents a clutch member mounted :11 the sleeve 7 ,and provided with clutch fingers '13? which pass through suitable guide openings in the-gear 9 to cooperate with recesses orp'rojec'tions 11 carried by the mast r-gear 11. .The hub of the clutch member 3 is'provided with a circumferen 4O tial groove with which coiiperates a bifurcated end of an operating lever 14. When the clutch is operated so as to lock the master-gear 11 to one of the gears 9, it is obvious that both traction wheels 8 are locked together, because the planetary p'inions 10 cannot rotate and hence the opposite companion gear 9 will likewise be locked to the master-gear. I prefer, however, to'provi'de I a clutch for each wheel'8 and avoid unnecessarily straining the parts as might be done were a single clutch used. When one or both clutches is operated and the two wheels 8' are locked together, it is obvious that power is applied directly from the pinion-l2 to the master-gear 11, which is locked to thewheels 8' and hence both traction wheels are positively driven in unison. L

I Supporting apparatusinthe form of a shaft .15 carrying a handwheel 16 and a Worm'l7 operates a sprocket 18, over which runs a chain ,or cable 19, the ends of said.

chain or cable being connected to the rear corners of the front truck. hen the engine is traveling in a straight line there isan equal amount of chain or cable on each described from the king pin 5.; will ap- 'proach one corner of the front truck a coinpanshaft 14 and differentialgearing for. driving the front shafts are side of the sprocket 18, and hence an isometric angle is formed. -When the front truck is turned, as shown in Fig. 2, the" sprocketlS, traveling in an arc of a circle greater distance, relatively, than it leaves the other corner, and, consequently. the asymmetric formation of the anglc'produces slack in that part oft-he cha'in' constitut-' ing one of .the long legs of the angle, To takenp this slack, I mount forked arms 20' on the front truck which arms, as shown in Fig. 2, ;when' the front truck isswun ex tending some distance behind the p votal axis 5, will swing an outward arc of the, circle,-caus1ng a bend or 10g to occurin the long leg of .the chain which becomes more acute as the angularity of thebreak increasesl'al'n this manner, the chain is kept taut at all times, it being unnecessary for the operator to reverse the movement of the steering apparatus to take up lost motion wh ch would occur were it not for the prcs.-.

ence of th ee take-up arms 20.

' .The pin on 12, heretofore referred to as the driving pinion, is mounted upon a shaft 12*, arranged in bearings 12 extending from the front truckjframe (see Fig; 5). This pinion is made hollow and is connected by a universal joint to a shaft 14 mountedin a'bearing 12 extending from the rear truck. A sprocket wheel 13 'is arranged on the is connected by a differential; driving gear with theenginefshaft. The

and rear trucks is also preferably provided with locking clutches 21, so'that both front and back master-gear wheels can be locked to the engine shaft for the purpose above described. v 4

I am aware that minor changes in the construction and arrangement of" the several parts of my device can be made and substituted without in the least departing-11o from the-nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my intent inn,

what I claimis:

1. In atraction vehicle, the combination of two trucks connected to-each other by a swivel oint, a power transmission shaft mounted on one truck, a second. shaft m'ount-.

ed on t other one of 't'hetru'cks and connected to the first shaft by means of a uni-- versaljoint, a gear niountedon saidsecond shaftsurrounding the universal joint, and a drivingmechanism comprisinga gear mesh.-

ing with the first mentioned gear; p 2. In a fraction vehicle, the combination each other by a swivel joint, a shaft on the. rear truck, a shaft on the front truck which connected by a uni-versaljoint, the axis of which coincides with the axis .30

12 6v .with front and rear trucks connected to (If the swivel 1 between the trucks, means Intestim0nyivhe1'e0f I hereunto z fiix my uanried by the rear truck for driving the signature in the presence of .two Witnesses, shaftthereon, .a pinion fixed 0n the shaft thls 2nd day of July 1909. earried by the front truck which pinion in: DANIEL T. TIMBERLAKE.

' closes the universal joint between the shafts Witnesses.

and a driving connection from said pinion F. R. CORNWALL, t0 the axle of the front truck. LENORE CLARK. 

